MICHAEL SMALL

COMPOSER

Photo: Acadia Mezzofanti

Michael Small is an English-born composer.

Michael has been the recipient of commissions from the Royal Philharmonic Society, Ensemble 10/10, and his works are regularly performed by international caliber musicians such as Emmy and Grammy winner Gloria Cheng, and BBC Music Magazine laureate Fenella Humphreys. He was tutored at RNCM by David Horne, and at Cornell by Steven Stucky.

NEWS

Michael's short work for solo piano, Debussy Window will appear on Gloria Cheng's latest album on Bridge Records, Garlands for Steven Stucky. Thirty-two composers, students and colleagues of the much revered and missed Steven Stucky contributed short pieces for solo piano in his memory. Alongside these pieces, Gloria will record Stucky's Two Holy Sonnets of Donne. The record will be available from Oct. 5th, 2018. Click here to pre-order.

Michael recently returned from conducting the world premiere of his latest work, Jali for Oboe Quintet. Composed for his father Jonathan Small, the performance took place in a prominent evening concert at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Granada, Spain. The UK Premiere is set for March 27th, 2019 as part of the University of Liverpool's Wednesday concert series, with a quartet drawn from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Michael just returned from a productive summer as Composition Fellow at the 2018 Bowdoin International Music Festival. While there he had a total of five works performed, two of them world premieres of pieces written at the festival for the excellent young fellow instrumentalists. You can find recordings on the Listen page.

2018 saw two further performances of the Virginia Woolf inspired multi-artform project Circling the Waves, which interweaves the music of six composers with paintings by the versatile violinist Michiko Theurer. The project inspired by Virginia Woolf’s extraordinarily innovative novel was performed at Stanford University and the University of Montana in April.

Michael had a fabulous time as Composition Fellow at the Weekend of Chamber Music Festival in late July of 2017. Nestled in the hills near Monticello, NY, and featuring artists like Gloria Cheng, Sarah Ho, Caroline Stinson and Nurit Pacht, WCM has become a gem among smaller chamber music festivals in the US. Michael had a chance to workshop several new pieces there, including a movement of his Oboe Quintet, Jali, and a short piano etude with Gloria Cheng.

In 2016, White Space was featured at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, the sixth performance of the piece in the UK. Fenella Humphreys performed the piece in front of a painting by Pieter Saeredam who first inspired it, along with a late solo violin work by the much loved Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

In 2016 Michael’s work Eastern Point was read as part of the American Composers Orchestra’s Underwood Readings. Conducted by George Manahan, and mentored by Stephen Hartke, Robert Beaser, Derek Bermel, and Sarah Kirkland Snider, Michael found the experience to be thrilling and enormously rewarding.

In 2016 Michael was a Fellow on the Copland House’s “CULTIVATE” composition program led by Derek Bermel. While there he enjoyed long and rewarding conversations with his colleagues, and workshopped a piece called “the sky a silver” for the Music from Copland House ensemble.

In 2014, Michael won a Young Composers Prize from the Royal Philharmonic Society, which resulted in a commission to write a piece for solo violin for the Presteigne Festival. White Space was premiered by Fenella Humphreys in August 2015, and has subsequently been performed six more times in the UK and US.

One of Michael’s best experiences as a composer was his summer at the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2015. While there he made many lasting friendships and had several works including his I was the shadow of the waxwing slain for cello, piano, and electronics featured.

Performed as part of the 3rd Momenta Festival Michael Small (b. 1988): White Space - Meditation on Saenredam (2015). Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin Dixon Place Theater, NYC recorded live 10-1-17 www.momentaquartet.com

Michiko Theurer performs my three miniatures from the multi-artform project Circling the Waves. This work was recorded in May 2017, and has since received five further performances, four with Michiko, and with Anite Stroh at Bowdoin.

In June 2016, Michael was a Composition Fellow at the Copland House’s “CULTIVATE” program mentored by Derek Bermel. While there he worked on a short piece for clarinet, violin, cello and piano called “the sky a silver” - a title from e.e. cummings.

Michael’s 2014 Royal Philharmonic Society Prize resulted in a commission for a solo violin piece for BBC Music Magazine Award winner Fenella Humphreys, and premiered at the Presteigne Festival. This recording is from the fourth performance of the work, at the University of Liverpool. White Space has now been performed seven times in the UK and US, including a 2016 performance in the National Galleries in Edinburgh, in front of a painting by Saenredam who inspired the piece.

Andrew Zhou performs Hasegawa Sketch at Cornell. This piece was prompted by Hasegawa’s “Pine Trees” - which may be one of the earliest known paintings to feature solely a landscape, devoid of any figures.

I was the shadow of the waxwing slain is performed here by Elizabeth Lyon (cello) and Ryan McCullough (piano) at Cornell. Inspired by Nabokov’s novel Pale Fire, I was the shadow of the waxwing slain is a surreal narrative about dreams, flight, and maniacal hallucinations. It has received several performances including one at Aspen in the summer of 2015.

EVENTS

Gloria performs Michael’s Debussy Window as part of her project of thirty-two commissions in memory of the great American composer and teacher Steven Stucky (1949-2016). You can purchase tickets here: https://www.colburnschool.edu/calendar/events/piano-spheres-gloria-cheng-garlands-for-steven-stucky/